Here are some unplugged thoughts as we kick off our Unplugged Conference today.

The genesis of Unplugged dates back to something called the School of Pastoral Nurture hosted by Jack Hayford. I was one of thirty-five pastors that hung out with Jack for a week. We had dinner at his house. Had off-line conversations. It was an incredibly formative experience. So I’ve always wanted to do something similar.

We’d also observed that the highlight of our Buzz Conferences were the personal interactions. Besides that, there are lots of amazing big conferences that people can go to. So we decided on less conference, more conversation. Long story short, we limited Unplugged to fifty people. And while we’ll kick off each of the five greatest challenges leaders face with a teaching component. We really want it to be as interactive as possible.

One of the things I’m loving is that it is low-stress. It’s more about speaking out of the overflow of what God is doing in my life and what I’m learning than a canned speech.

We’ll do more Unplugged events in the future. I’m basically tag-teaming with a fellow pastor that I really want to hang out with myself. First up is Jud Wilhite from Central Christian in Las Vegas. Great guy. Great leader.

Alright, we’re about t-minus one hour. The adrenaline is pumping. Time to get unplugged.